Pervaiz Khattak, Siraj Durrani in NAB’s crosshairs

Anti-graft watchdog decides to institute 14 inquiries

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) executive board approved on Wednesday instituting 14 inquiries against prominent personalities, including former chief minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Pervaiz Khattak and speaker of the Sindh Assembly Agha Siraj Durrani.

NAB’s executive board, which met under Justice Javed Iqbal, also approved inquiries against K-P’s former additional chief secretary (P&D) Khalid Pervaiz, MD of the provincial tourism corporation Mushtaq Khan, Iqbal Z Ahmed, Yousaf Jamil Ansari, director-general of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) Iftikhar Qaimkhani, Mayor Karachi Waseem Akhtar, former special assistant to the Sindh CM Imtiaz Malah, Dilawar Hussain Memon, CEO of MEPCO, Sukkur, Nazir Soomro and Crystal Model Town and builders and owner of Rana Associates Rao Muhammad Shakir and others.



Three other investigations were also approved against Vice-Chancellor of the GC University in Faisalabad Dr Shahid Mehboob and DG Finance Quetta Ali Gul Kurd.

Further details would be shared at an appropriate time in accordance with the directives of the Supreme Court, a press release issued by the NAB stated.

Members of the executive board also gave the go-ahead for filing corruption references against various other persons, including former vice-chancellor of the Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan Dr Ahsan Ali and others on charges of inflicting losses of Rs328.366 million on the national exchequer in awarding a contract for purchasing IT equipment at higher rates.



Approval was also granted for filing a reference against former K-P minister for technical education, manpower, industries and mineral development Nawabzada Mehmood Zaib. He is accused of inflicting a loss of Rs350.52 million on the national kitty by awarding a phosphate exploration contract on 498.96 acres of land at a throwaway price.

NAB’s executive board also approved filing reference against former Balochistan food minister Izhar Hussain and others on charges of misappropriating 35,000 sacks of wheat to PRC Pishin, resulting in a loss of Rs210.18 million to the national exchequer.

Filing of a corruption reference was approved against former MNA Sultan Muhammad Hinjra and others for illegally allotting 1,342 kanal of state land of the Thal Development Authority and one kanal and 14 marlas of land of a graveyard to favourites by fraudulent means. This resulted in a loss of Rs190 million to the national kitty.

Approval was also accorded for filing a corruption reference against former CEO of MEPCO Chaudhry Guftar Ahmed Anjum and others for depositing MEPCO’s Rs200 million in the Trust Investment Bank of Multan. This caused a loss of Rs314 million to the national kitty.

Major corruption cases had been assigned the highest priority, Justice Javed Iqbal said.

NAB officials, he said, were pursuing a policy of ‘Accountability for All’ for rooting out corruption.

The chairman NAB directed the officials concerned to initiate inquiries in accordance with the law and finalise all cases within the prescribed time.